Slow Coronary Flow is Related to Increased Carotid Intima-Media Thickness but Not Pulse Wave Velocity

Evaluation of Arterial Stiffness and Subfoveal Choroidal Thickness in Patients with Coronary Slow Flow

Background

Coronary slow flow may not only affect the coronary arteries, but it may also be a vascular problem affecting the rest of the arterial system.

Objective

The aim of this study was to determine peripheral arterial stiffness and the thickness of the choroid layer in patients with slow coronary flow.

Methods

Fifty consecutive patients (age, 54.3 ± 11.4 years, 38 male) with coronary slow flow and 25 consecutive patients (age, 50.5 ± 9.9 years, 16 male) with normal coronary arteries both documented by coronary angiography were included. Arterial stiffness parameters were measured noninvasively using a Mobil-O-Graph arteriography system. The choroidal thickness was assessed using the enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography method.

Results

The patients with coronary slow flow had significantly higher peripheral systolic blood pressure, peripheral pulse pressure, central pulse pressure, and pulse wave velocity (PWV) and significantly thinner choroidal thickness compared to the controls. Thrombolysis in myocardial infarction frame count was positively correlated with PWV (r: 0.237, p = 0.041) and negatively correlated with choroidal thickness (r: -0.249, p = 0.031). There was also a negative correlation between PWV and mean choroidal thickness (r: -0.565, p < 0.001). Linear regression analysis showed that coronary slow flow was an independent predictor of both PWV and choroidal thickness when adjusted by age and sex.

Conclusions

The acceleration of average peripheral arterial PWV with a thinning of choroidal thickness in patients with coronary slow flow may support the idea that this phenomenon may be a coronary presentation of a systemic microvascular disorder.